Finalist Spotlight: MicroClinic Technologies

Patients living in low-income peri-urban or rural communities are forced to travel long distances to access care. Private owner-operated clinics have emerged to provide medicines and healthcare, however they frequently report medicine being out of stock. Staff are not highly trained in computer skills which makes stock management a challenge.

THE STRATEGY

MicroClinic Technologies has developed ZiDi™, a health records management software, initially developed for point-of-care tracking of commodities and stock management in clinics serving rural and peri-urban communities in Kenya. A network of 100 young Kenyan workers, called Blue Angels, are being trained to use the software and help scale the project to key regions in Kenya. This technology will improve the availability, accessibility, quality and affordability of medicines to low-income families in Kenya.

THE CO-CREATION IDEA

The model implemented by MicroClinic Technologies is an innovative and sustainable health solution that is transforming healthcare because it has potential to improve access to affordable diagnostics and medicines at the Point-of-care using ZiDi™ software and be scaled across Kenya.

As one of the chosen finalists for the Making More Health: Co-Creating a Healthier World Challenge MicroClinic Technologies is working with Boehringer Ingelheim during Phase 3. They are participating in the 6 week Accelerator programme where teams from both entities are co-designing a co-creation plan to improve last mile diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and stroke in five underserved regions in Kenya.

The plan is to target 100 private clinics in peri-urban communities, where health workers will be trained to on a cardiovascular disease (CVD) screening protocol, which would be co-designed with Boehringer Ingelheim and embedded in the MicroClinic’s existing ZiDi™ health management software. The screening protocol will be reinforced by a coupon/loyalty program, where clinics earn points for adhering to the CVD protocol that can then be converted into coupons for the purchase of electro-cardiogram devices to better serve patients. The loyalty program is a technology-powered solution can transform healthcare across Kenya using ZiDi™.

The 100 clinics targeted are already using ZiDi™ as a health records management system. Boehringer Ingelheim’s expertise in CVD offers a strategic partnership with MicroClinic Technologies to further develop ZiDi™. Boehringer Ingelheim employees can help to develop an easy-to-use CVD screening protocol, training videos for health workers and also potentially donate coupons which clinics can claim to obtain relevant devices like ECGs once they achieve their target number of loyalty points.

This plan has the potential to offer a win-win-win-win for the clinics, MicroClinic Technologies, Boehringer Ingelheim as well as patients.

The final decision on whether there is concrete potential for this to materialise will be decided by a panel of Boehringer Ingelheim judges at the 2-day Summit in Ingelheim, Germany where winners have the opportunity to win prizes totalling $50,000 USD.